 After Dawit's proclamation, Ewostathianism enjoyed impressive growth.This growth was noticed by Dawit's successor, Emperor Zara Yakob (r. 1434–1468) who realized that the energy of the Sabbatarians could be useful in reinvigorating the church and promoting national unity.The Church, when Yakob took the throne, was impressively widespread, but the consequence of so many different peoples being part of the same church was that there were often many different messages spread throughout the empire, as the clergy was split between followers of Alexandria and Ewostathians, who refused to follow the hierarchy of Alexandria.